This Watchmen Theory Suggests John Cena Is Playing Dr. Manhattan and That's Somehow Not a Joke

Dr. Manhattan is the most powerful character in the Watchmen universe.

A theory suggests he could be played by John Cena in HBO's new series, and it kind of checks out.

We'll see if it's true, but it's pretty compelling.

There's a lot of mystery abound in the Damon Lindelof's verison of Watchmen, which is approaching it's midway run on HBO. There's the historical connections. The classic graphic novel character reveals. The squid rain. The dildos. But what if the latest trick could be the reveal of a secret mega star, playing perhaps the series' most important character nonetheless? A new theory posted on ScreenRant suggesting that none other than John Cena could be playing the all-powerful Dr. Manhattan would seem to suggest that. And, honestly? It kind of checks out.

Let's start from the beginning. While we haven't seen Dr. Manhattan in a significant way yet in HBO's Watchmen—we've seen his outline on Mars in news footage, and references to himthroughout the series—but as Chekhov's Gun would indicate, he's coming.

Manhattan is probably the most important character in the original Watchmen comic. He's the only one with superpowers after all; as the text put it, "The Superman is real, and he's American." And while we don't have any real supermen in reality, Cena is probably comes just about the closest. And, well, back in late 2017, he posted a couple interesting photos on his Instagram, devoid of context:

First, he just posted a portrait of the good Dr. himself:

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Now we should also note that Cena's Instagram feed is almost entirely comprised of bizarre images with no context. That is important; his bio even reads "Welcome to my Instagram. These images will be posted without explanation, for your interpretation. Enjoy."

But we carry on nonetheless.

By late 2017, Lindelof's Watchmen was in pre-production; the casting was officially announced in mid-2018, so it's certainly possible that Cena could've gotten word of something by that point.

Plus, in Episode 3 we got a look at the HBO version of what Dr. Manhattan looks like (albeit a painted version, in Laurie Blake's home). Take a close look:

HBO

A little bit buffer than he's been before, huh? Doesn't he start to look pretty Cena-esque when you look closely? Plus, we can't ignore Cena's recent film resume: he's starred in hit comedies like Blockers, and will appear in upcoming blockbusters The Suicide Squad and the next Fast and Furiousmovie. Guys, this could be a thing. I don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves, but this could really be a thing. John Cena. Watchmen. What a world.

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One way or another, we'll find out in the coming weeks—let's keep our fingers crossed.

Evan RomanoEvan is an associate editor for Men’s Health, with bylines in The New York Times, MTV News, Brooklyn Magazine, and VICE.

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